1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Have you ever felt like giving up? Whether in school, sports, a job, a marriage, family, in ministry or maybe just life in general? Maybe you lost your job and it put a strain on your marriage financially, which then led to fighting and arguing within your marriage and you questioned, "Is it worth living in this?" Or perhaps your grades in school began to slip because you were focusing more on being "popular" or spending time with your boyfriend/girlfriend and you couldn't seem to get them back up so you thought, "What's the point in trying? I'm a failure." Maybe you're an athlete who finds themselves sitting on the sidelines more than playing in the game or who is losing more than you win right now and you are ready to quit. Whatever the situation you may be in now or have gone through before, I venture to say that we all have thought about quitting at some point or another in life. I have been feeling that very way here the last couple of weeks. Everything has been a struggle. Ministry has been a struggle, fulfilling all I have to do in the little amount of time I had to do it in before heading back on the road. Having time for my family has been a struggle because I've been so busy in ministry and when I am home I just want to rest. Physically being exhausted, having a cold you can't get rid of, just not feeling like myself has been a struggle. And let me just go ahead and say, the struggle has been real, and I have been ready to give up. Then I thought about Derek Redmond. That name may not mean anything to some of you, but some of you may remember Derek Redmond from the 1992 Olympics. Derek was a runner, in excellent shape, favored to win the 400-meter dash. He had already won the quarterfinals there in Barcelona and had moved on to the semi finals. As the race began he was running well. He ran for 150 meters and then tragedy struck as Derek's hamstring snapped. He grabbed his leg and fell in agony onto the track. After a few seconds on the ground, he got up and began the race again, this time hobbling because he was unable to run; yet he just wanted to finish the race. It didn't matter to him that he would come in last place or that he was suddenly the slowest one out there, it mattered to him that he completed what he had started. As he was hobbling along, practically hopping on one foot, a man runs out on the track past security. That man was Derek's father, Jim Redmond. He told his son he could stop and that he didn't have anything to prove. But Derek told him he did have something to prove and that he wouldn't quit. So, being the compassionate, loving father he was Jim walked with Derek, and when they got close to the finish line he let him go so that he could finish his race despite injury and excruciating pain. The crowd of nearly 70,000 people gave him a standing ovation and even though the official Olympic record says Derek Redmond didn't finish the race that day, he did. He not only finished the race but, he finished it with excellence because, in spite of his odds he NEVER QUIT! (Watch his story here at https://youtu.be/kZIXWp6vFdE ). Now that might be enough to make you think twice about giving up, but I needed a little more. I wanted to hear from the Lord, and I felt as though I was getting no answers. Then we did a women's conference this weekend and Brenda spoke on "The Struggle Is Real." I was sitting there crying the entire time thinking, “Yes, I know it's real. I am dealing with it right now, and I'm ready to just throw in the towel.” She taught about different people in the Bible and their struggles. Such as Martha's struggle with her service, Mary's struggle knowing Jesus was the Messiah and He was going to be crucified, the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years (that's pretty self explanatory) but she had tried all she knew and still couldn't find a cure. She taught on Gomer's struggle with her past and with lust, David struggling to be a godly leader even after his sin with Bathsheba, and Jesus' struggle not being accepted by His own people and family. She also mentioned the face that Jesus did not have a place to lay His head, and His struggle as He carried the cross and was crucified. It became clear to me that everyone struggles and everyone's struggles are different. The question is, how do you have victory over your struggles? For those of you who have been to one of our women's conferences you know that Brenda gives out mementos at the end of each speech that has a Scripture on it to leave you with the voice of God and not hers. Well, I sat through this entire speech anxiously waiting to see what God was going to say to me at the end, but I was not fully prepared for just how He was going to speak directly to me in a way that was almost a thump in the head as if to say, you know this. My word was “Overcomer” and my Scripture was 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." WOW, was all I could think. Just reading those words spoke directly to me, but I still decided to break them down once I got home and look up the original Greek meanings and see exactly what God was saying to me. I hope you're ready for this because this is some good stuff. Beloved brethren here simply means: fellow Christians, or one of the same faith; abounding here means: excel, be the better, increase, remain over and above; work means: that which one has been called or ordained to accomplish; labour means: toil, or wearisome effort; in vain means: empty, fruitless or without usefulness or success. Now you may notice that I skipped the words stedfast and unmoveable, that is for good reason, they didn't really have another meaning listed in the Greek, so I looked them up in the dictionary to get a better idea of what they meant. Webster's defines steadfast as: very devoted or loyal, not changing, firmly fixed, dedicated, faithful, and true. It defines unmoveable as: incapable of moving, unbudging, fixed, rooted, anchored, secure, set, not able to be changed or persuaded, and unyielding. What does all that mean you might ask? Well, here is what God was saying to me, "Therefore, my fellow Christians, those of the same faith as me, be settled and faithful, unmoveable (without wavering), always excelling and going above and beyond in the work you've been called and ordained to accomplish of the Lord, for you know your wearisome effort is not fruitless or without usefulness in the Lord!" So to conclude, quitting is not the answer. Sometimes life is a struggle, it's lonely and weary, but God is with you! He wants you to be loyal and unbudging in service to Him for which I (and you) have been called because in the end what I do for Him will be a success! I leave you with the Amplified Bible's version of this verse, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord), knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is NOT futile (it is never wasted or to no purpose)."